What we do

One life every 20 seconds

Every child, no matter where he or she is born, has the right to the opportunity of a healthy life and vaccines are one of the best ways to assure it.

• They save lives.
• They prevent disease so children can grow up to lead productive lives.
• They are cost-effective and much cheaper than hospitalising a sick child.

Yet each year 1.7 million children die from a vaccine-preventable disease. The overwhelming majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. That's one life every 20 seconds.

In January 2000, with global immunisation rates stagnating, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) was launched to fund vaccines for children in the world's 70 poorest countries. Its mission: to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries.

Single-minded focus

By pulling the specialist skills of all the main players in immunisation -  WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, donor governments, developing countries, international development and finance organisations and the pharmaceutical industry - into one, decision-making body, GAVI has brought a single-minded focus to the urgent task of closing three critical gaps in the provision of vaccines:

1. between children for whom immunisation is a given and the 19 million children worldwide with no access to vaccines;
2. between the introduction of a new vaccine in rich countries and the average 10-15 years required for the same vaccine to reach low-income countries;
3. between the need for new vaccines in developing countries and the lack of research and funds to provide them.

Global number of under-five children unimmunised with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP3)
Source/credits: WHO/UNICEF coverage estimates 1980-2009, July 2010

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From the GAVI site

Tried and tested

 

Focused agenda

Rather than duplicating the services of the many players in the field of health and vaccines, the GAVI Alliance channels its partners' specific skillsets into a single, cohesive agenda. Members contribute to the Alliance through participation in strategy and policy-setting, advocacy, fundraising, vaccine development and procurement, country support and immunisation delivery.

GAVI relies on the tried and tested skills of individual members to fulfill its mission. For example:

• public health services and civil society organisations seek to ensure vaccines reach even the most remote villages;
• WHO regional and country offices work with Health Ministries to plan and implement immunisation programmes;
• UNICEF's supply division procures and supplies vaccines.

Best and the brightest

The Alliance also serves as a forum for collaboration, with partners' different skills and experience delivering new and better ways of improving routine immunisation.

Through active participation in GAVI task teams & working groups, the best and the brightest in immunisation bring new answers to key questions such as how to substantially increase the amount of funding available for vaccine support and how to introduce new vaccines at prices developing countries can afford.

First among equals

At all times, developing countries are first among equals in the GAVI Alliance. Health ministries in developing countries:

• identify their own piorities and choose what GAVI support to apply for;
• integrate GAVI support into their national health and immunisation plans;
• contribute towards the cost of the vaccines they receive through co-financing.

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From the GAVI site

Partners in the Alliance

 

Board composition

 

Effective funding mechanism

GAVI seeks to make the right vaccines available in the right amount at the right price to the world's poorest countries.

Drawing on the skills of the key players in global immunisation, the Alliance's business model has provided solutions to six challenges that have slowed the introduction of life-saving vaccines to the world's poorest children:

1. Getting immunisation on the agenda

GAVI demonstrates that investing in immunisation programmes is cost-effective and supplies the evidence that encourages governments in donor and developing countries to support the introduction of new vaccines.

2. Securing predictable financing

Immunisation programmes need donor commitment that gives developing countries the confidence to adopt new vaccines. GAVI's emphasis on innovative financing mechanisms has secured long-term, predictable financing.

3. Putting countries in charge

International aid programmes were previously often project-based with external development agencies and donors defining the agenda.

GAVI's business model is built on the premise that developing countries should set their own priorities and ensure external support fits into the broader fabric of national health plans. GAVI uses existing partnerships and networks to implement the programmes.

4. Strengthening health delivery systems

Funding vaccines does not guarantee that they will reach the children who need them. GAVI allocates 15-25% of its total funding support to cash-based programmes designed to help countries strengthen their immunisation and health services. For example: health worker training, monitoring, logistics.

5. Making vaccines affordable

Ensuring a lasting impact on the vaccine market to the benefit of the low- and lower middle-income countries underlies the GAVI business model. GAVI influences vaccine prices using several strategies:

• aggregating demand and procurement;
• encouraging competition;
• increasing transparency on vaccine demand, supply dynamics and pricing;
• encouraging a low pricing tier that allows GAVI-eligible countries to access the same product at a fraction of the price charged in high-income countries;
• ensuring countries that graduate from GAVI support continue to have access to low vaccine prices .

6. Country co-financing

To enhance country ownership of vaccine financing and set a path to financial sustainability, GAVI requires countries to contribute towards the cost of the vaccines they receive. Co-financing levels are determined by each country's ability to pay.

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From the GAVI site

The business model

 

Programme portfolio

GAVI currently offers the following portfolio of programme support:

• vaccines against: pneumococcal, rotavirus,Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B (hepB), yellow fever, measles second dose and meningitis A. GAVI also supports pentavalent vaccine, which offers protection from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP), hepB and Hib;
• vaccine stockpiles of meningitis A and yellow fever vaccine;
• health system strengthening support: cash payments to strengthen the capacity of a country's health system to deliver immunisation services;

• civil society organisation (CSO) support: in many countries, CSOs are the backbone of the health system, delivering up to 60% of immunisation services, especially to remote and vulnerable populations;
• injection safety support: three-year funding to national immunisation programmes for autodisable syringes, safety boxes for syringe disposal and activities to support widespread safe injection practices;
• immunisation services support: aims to increase basic immunisation coverage by offering countries US$ 20 for each additional child vaccinated with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3). DTP3 is the standard measure of the strength of routine immunisation programmes.

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Civil society organisation support

 

Health system strengthening support